


scaredy cat

by 4dreamie



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Haunted Houses, M/M, Noren, donghyuck is a jerk but whats new, hand holding, jeno really just wants to hold renjuns hand, mentioned chenle - Freeform, mentioned jisung - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-17
Updated: 2018-05-17
Packaged: 2019-05-08 02:17:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14684364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/4dreamie/pseuds/4dreamie
Summary: lee jeno who takes huang renjun to explore the abandoned complex in the woods and potentially uses it as an excuse to hold his hand.





	scaredy cat

“This is such a dumb idea; we should go back to the movie while we’re still alive and breathing.”

Renjun’s vexed whisper hardly breached through the crunch of scattered tree leaves, the moon holding a high poise in the sky as he attempted to keep up with Jeno. Jeno was persistent in slithering his way deeper into the forest, past oak bark starting to splinter and brambles meshed with stray clumps of moss.

He scoffed from ahead, ducking under a branch that drooped across the mulch coated pathway, dewy leaves brushing his shoulders. “You have to admit it was getting boring, this is gonna be way more fun.” Jeno emphasized with a quick glean in Renjun’s direction, nothing apart from morose accumulating in his stomach. Jeno’s eyes shone a little too brightly in the darkness, moonlight glinting off them in mischievous ways. 

“It wasn’t that boring,” Renjun huff while catching up to him, resisting the urge to hold his hand when a snap rang from the darkness, “I mean yeah, Chenle getting his foot stuck in Mrs. Choi’s pecan pie while Jisung interrogated the dog sitter for plans to the tranquilizer was old school, but I was enjoying it!”

Like any students free on a Friday night, Renjun brushed any thoughts of perfecting his notes into another dimension and bought tickets for the drive-in movie. He and Jeno hitched a ride with Donghyuck and his film crew, the clip they had to shoot for class the last thing on their minds when purchasing too much popcorn and licorice. Halfway through the film they slipped away to refill their drinks, leaving Renjun with his best friend, Jeno, to awkwardly share a blanket.

He’d been right, the movie was starting to bore, and Renjun couldn’t keep scraping the popcorn container for morsels that didn’t exist. He’d already suffered too many blush-worthy moments of his hands brushing and the midnight air growing tangibly thick when the two best friends in the film confessed to each other.

Thank god Donghyuck and his gawky gang hadn’t been there for that, or else the teasing would have melted Renjun’s ears. It was only a few minutes afterward that Jeno pulled the blanket away from his chin and offered a much more eventful way to take advantage of the night, by visiting the abandoned building complex buried within the woods. Renjun left before Donghyuck and his film crew could return, and was he ever regretting that decision now.

“Look!” Jeno gasped excitedly, his breath cutting through the air damp and cool. “I swear I can see it through the trees!” His palm became a warm embrace that smoothed over Renjun’s own; a modicum of his anxiety gently lulled before the lanky branches and knotted brambles thinned.

Strokes of alabaster moonlight fell across a clearing, casting bloated pupils to scan the entrance of the abandoned building: the graffiti that stippled up and down cracked cement, broken glass jutting from certain window frames like fangs, the odd bicycle that rusted into the mulch, or tattered kites swaying from the tree branches that loomed above. In an instant Renjun’s heart dropped, and the grip he held Jeno’s fingers in became ironclad.

“C’mon can we please go back now? It’s too late to be doing stuff like this.” Renjun gritted through clenched teeth, praying Jeno would look into his obsequious side and help steer him back to the drive-in. He’d watched one too many horror films to know exactly how this whole abandoned building exploration would turn out, the curdling screams already seeking residence in Renjun’s ears. However, Jeno was practically glazing upon the building, his lips slightly parted as he probably mused over all the hidden treasures yet to discover.

Renjun tugged on his wrist while sparing curt glances toward the building’s entrance, his fear elevating with the thought that the next time he stared, someone would be staring right back.

“Please Jeno, I have five bucks left and I want cotton candy. We can do this another time, okay?”

The boy snapped from whatever trance he’d waltzed into when Renjun reached for his other hand, playing with Jeno’s fingers so his own could focus on a task different from quivering. Jeno stilled his overwrought movements and clasped Renjun’s fingers so they were interlaced with his.

“Stop worrying you baby, I promise we’ll just pop in then out. I’ll even get you all the cotton candy in the world if you stop worrying.” He took a jab at soothing Renjun, allowing his voice to coalesce with the satin sleek sky above. Renjun couldn’t endure the soft frequencies beaming from his eyes, how they held the tiniest flecks of luminescence due to the moon, and with nothing but a scratchy sigh, he crumbled.

“Fine, but you’re going first.”

Renjun grumbled, falling into step behind the boy and pinching a tiny piece of fabric from his jacket.

“I guess this means I have to protect you.” Jeno exasperates, though Renjun cannot see the pleased curl that saunters along his lips.

Jeno shines the light of his phone against the wall, Renjun’s footsteps a hollow echo that pervade the room, a constant reminder he was indeed exploring this creepy building with random toys strewn about and markings plastered to every surface available. Renjun hasn’t taken his fingers off the back of Jeno’s jacket, his knuckles so tense they threaten to lacerate the skin.

“Cool, huh?” Jeno hums as he shuffle toward the room’s far exit, though he was hardly paying notice to the abstract creations littering the wall, his gaze so persistently glued to the rocking chair that rests solemnly in the corner, almost daring it to creak, to sway in some gust of wind that fails to whistle through the building’s broken windows. Things are far from cool when Renjun swears the antique wood rocks forward in the smallest bustle of movement, Jeno’s phone almost clattering to the floor when Renjun jumps into him.

“It moved!” Renjun whisper to him harshly, his fist balled with strength in comparison to steel through his jacket. Jeno winds his arm around Renjun’s waist, tugging him close.

“It’s just your jumpy brain imagining things,” he croons, his phone splashing white light across the ancient chair. It’s completely still, yet the air feels colder, the gooseflesh that erupts like a lick of ice down his spine and arms rather unpleasant. He whispers into Jeno’s shoulder,

“Can we go now?”

“Don’t give up on me yet, just a few more rooms and then we’ll scram.”

Jeno tries to lead Renjun toward the hallway, but something as innocent as a mouse skitters past, a tiny hunk of cheese probably wedged between its teeth. Renjun’s hand shoots up his chest while the other loops without hesitation around his waist, his head nestled right back into the cocoon he’d crafted by Jeno’s shoulder.

“It’s just a mouse,” Jeno chuckles, knowing every story that conveyed the same tale of mad doctor’s and failed experiments and wispy phantoms holds about as much substance as the cotton candy Renjun crave so dearly. He strokes Renjun’s arm, finding it hard to believe he was the same best friend that dragged him to the most extreme rollercoaster at the amusement park last summer, the one with about fifteen loops and drops so steep Jeno’s stomach just about slammed into his throat.

“So you can ride the country’s most engrossing rollercoaster about five times but you can’t step past a mouse?” He coos to lighten the mood, except what he receives as a gift for his plump heart is a thump to the chest.

“Never mind that, let’s just get this over with.” Jeno hears Renjun sulk. His footsteps commence in shuffling over the crumb littered floor, down the hallway that branches into another room.

“Maybe you’ll feel better if you hold my hand again?” Jeno says.

“I’m not that much of a baby.”

Yet the second another crackle ripples from the end of the hallway, Renjun’s fingers are woven so tightly through his the circulation might dwindle to nothing.

The two remain silent while scanning the following room, Renjun huddles into Jeno’s side not breaking for even a second as he slowly twirls his orbs around the eerie space. His heart isn’t threatening to pound his ribcage to powder, the anxious twitching that encompass his fingers managing to fade. As reluctant as he were to visit the abandoned building complex, he was basking in the silence shared between him and Jeno, how Donghyuck and his film crew ambling off for soda refills had been a secret bonus. His hold around Renjun’s waist is secure, and the fact his palm hasn’t left Jeno’s chest summons the most lush hue of pink to his cheeks. He’s lucky Renjun can’t spot it through the cloaking darkness.

After flipping through a few dusky pages of books beginning to rot does Renjun decide to leave, Jeno aiming his phone down the narrow hall that leads to the entrance.

“See,” he grins down at Renjun, pleased to view his equally pearly smile reflecting within his brown orbs, “That wasn’t so bad, hmm?” Jeno is tempted to brush a lock of hair behind his ear, but he restrains himself.

The crunch of Renjun’s feet over the floor is hardly apparent in his ears, something that’s much warmer than fear instilling itself within his stomach.

“Yeah, I mean it wasn’t too-“

“HOW WAS YOUR DATE?!”

And just like that Renjun was screaming again, a surge of molten adrenaline coursing through his veins and swallowing his heart whole. He were one more stumble away from sailing toward the floor and it’s gritty surface of broken glass and mildew, except Jeno was sharp enough to bundle him into his chest, feeling the terror simmering from Renjun’s flesh. Donghyuck and his stupid film crew had launched themselves from around the corner, their cognizant smiles brighter than moonlight itself. They were in the beginnings of a chuckle, though Jeno was fuming.

“Why the hell would you guys do that? He could have gotten hurt you fucks.” Finally Renjun caught his breath, sweeping the hair from his eyes and sighing in relief it was nothing more than these dorks. He patted Jeno’s chest and swallowed thickly.

“It’s okay Jeno, it’s just them and not some little ghost child…” Renjun’s pupils were quick to expand. “And what the hell do you mean how was your date? We’re just frie-“

“Just friends, yeah yeah, blah blah.” Donghyuck dismissed with a wave of his hand. “We saw you guys disappear into the woods and figured we should tag along for good measure.”

Jeno scoffed. “I hope someone pushes your good measure down a flight of stairs.”

“Whatever.” Donghyuck shoots back, his hand digging into his backpack until he pulls out a camera. “Now that we’re here, this looks like a great spot to shoot some scenes for our film project, huh guys? Or should we find somewhere else since you two are gonna be flirting around the whole place.”

The desire to kick mulch is his face is overwhelming, but then Jeno’s hand soothes down Renjun’s arm once more, and he can’t begin to care what Donghyuck and his gawky film crew think.

“Yeah thanks,” Jeno suddenly replies nonchalantly, “If you could find somewhere else to shoot your windows movie maker film that would be awesome.”

Renjun blink up at him in surprise, heat bubbling in the pit of his stomach and that familiar thump racing against his chest. It’s then he realizes how badly he yearns to hold Jeno’s hand again, to glide his thumb over each marble slope that is his knuckles, and without thought he does, earning an eyebrow quirk from Donghyuck.

“Best friends my ass.” He gleans before something buried within the wall creates a scratch, bringing Donghyuck to squeal in such a high pitch they feel their eardrums rattle.

“I’ll let you hold Jeno’s hand if you want.” He hears Renjun tease, Jeno’s chuckle echoing soon after. Though somewhere in the back of Jeno’s mind, the only person’s hand he wants to hold is Renjun’s.


End file.
